How I Get My Girls to Eat Their Vegetables
Katrin Gilger |
Offer Them as Drinks
If your kids aren't too keen on vegetables, you can combine them with another dilemma: healthy drinks. It's hard to find drinks for your children that aren't full of sugar. Even fruit juices can contain lots of sugar and be bad for their teeth. I've looked at juicers and considered getting one to make drinks with. You can make both sweet and savoury juices with whatever you feel like. I think a lot of parents think that drinks have to be sweet for children to like them. But they will happily drink milk and water. Vegetable juices can be just as tasty as fruit juices.
Try Different Ways of Preparing Them
There are so many ways that you can cook different vegetables to change the flavour and texture. Take the potato, for example. You can boil it, mash it, roast it, bake it, make chips or cut it into wedges. You can season them with pepper, salt or paprika, or mix it with cheese or bacon. Use it as a topping for a pie, scoop out the flesh and fill the skins, and much more. And that's with just one vegetable. Try different ways of giving your kids vegetables. They could be raw, cooked, whole or chopped into tiny pieces. They might enjoy tomatoes in a pasta sauce but hate them in a salad.
Cook with the Kids
A lot of children love getting involved in the kitchen. And it will help to give them an appreciation of food for later in life. You don't want them going to university unable to even boil an egg. When you involve them in planning and preparing their own meal, they're often more enthusiastic about eating it. Let them help to choose what they're going to eat and get them involved in cooking too. There are lots of things that even toddlers can do, such as mixing or adding things to the pan. Older children can use a knife under supervision to help chop vegetables.
Keep Trying
Remember that children need to try a food several times before they get a taste for it. Some experts say they need to have it between eight and ten times before giving up. It's a good idea to ask them to try just one bite each time. Set a good example by eating your veggies, and even trying things you're not keen on too.
I know the frustration of attempting to get your children to eat when they don't want to, but there's always a way to get things done. Hopefully, my tips can help you with any vegetable aversion!